Kennedy Awards winners 2015

Caro Meldrum-Hanna was the biggest winner at the Kennedy Awards for excellence in NSW journalism. The winners were announced at an event hosted by RayMartin in Sydney on Friday night.

Meldrum-Hanna was named NSW Journalist of the Year and was part of the ABC’s FourCorners team who won four other awards.

Seven News was recognised with the Kennedy Award for Outstanding Television News Reporting for its coverage of the Lindt Café siege.

Sydney’s Director of News ChrisWillis accepted the award on behalf of the SevenNews team, dedicating the award to the memories of siege victims KatrinaDawson and ToriJohnson and to the courage of the hostages who survived the ordeal.

“This is award is a tribute to the dedication and skill of every person working in the newsroom,” he said. “They faced a challenge no other news organisation in Australia has ever faced. And we all should be very proud of the coverage we provided to viewers throughout Australia.”

Senior cameraman GregParker received the award for Outstanding News Camera Work for his outstanding coverage of the siege.

Seven News had a pivotal role in the siege, with the Lindt Café located just 30 meters across the plaza from the Martin Place newsroom.

Senior correspondent ChrisReason was the only journalist granted access by police to remain in the evacuated newsroom to report live on the situation. Next to Reason was cameraman GregParker, who was positioned shoulder-to-shoulder with a police marksman recording every second of the 16-hour siege ordeal.

Network director of News RobRaschke said: “We are very proud of this achievement. It is credit to a huge team of people who rallied in the toughest circumstances to deliver comprehensive rolling coverage from a makeshift studio and newsroom built in about two hours.”

The Kennedy Awards are named after veteran police reporter Les Kennedy, who died in 2011 at the age of 53.